Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 480 organizations whose IRS filings report $247,691,929 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($113,781,800). 246 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $354M
- Funders on record
- 480
- Grants received
- $248M
- Net assets
- $169M
What National Public Radio Inc does
Mission
National public radio, inc. (npr) collaborates with member public radio stations to create a more informed public, one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding of events, ideas, and cultures. Npr advances this mission by producing and distributing noncommercial programming that meets the highest standards of journalism and cultural expression, advocating for member stations' shared interests, and operating the satellite interconnection system for public radio.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Content production and distribution: funding in this category supports npr's newsroom, programming, npr music, and engineering activities. As an internationally recognized producer and distributor of broadcast and digital content, npr reached a weekly broadcast audience of 22.5 million people during the tax reporting period. Currently, 98.5% of the u.s. Population resides within the listening area of one or more stations carrying npr programming. Npr produces and/or distributes 22 broadcast programs across news, talk, music, and entertainment, as well as 24 podcast-only programs that engage an average of 8.1 million unique weekly users. Additionally, the npr app has one million weekly users. Beyond terrestrial radio, npr programming is distributed globally via satellite, hd radio, and member station web streams. Notable programs include "morning edition," "weekend edition," "all things considered," "fresh air," "the ted radio hour," "1a," "wait wait don't tell me!," "here & now," "book of the day," "code switch," "it's been a minute," "storycorps," "planet money," "life kit," "up first, and 24-hour npr newscasts.
$169,674,100 spentof which $11,246,098 as grants$29,438,236 earned by the program78% of program spendingNetwork, digital, and content support: funding in this category supports npr's product audience technology (pat), content support, and member partnership activities. Pat continued npr's public service by offering free content across web, mobile, and third-party platforms, reaching approximately 42 million users weekly. Through unified mobile apps, npr delivered real-time news, live audio and video streams, on-demand media, extensive archives, and digital-exclusive reporting. Behind the scenes, the content support team managed critical logistics for all reporting activities. This included deploying equipment and security packages for traveling journalists, coordinating travel for breaking news, conducting editorial research, and providing comprehensive field, software, and international bureau support. Finally, the member partnership team coordinated services for npr's 244 member organizations, which include universities, government entities, and community 501(c)(3)s. These members operate 1,035 public radio stations, part of a larger footprint of 1,101 total stations broadcasting npr programming. Drawing upon the strength of the network, npr collaborates with member stations on…
$35,700,900 spent$158,555,489 earned by the program16% of program spendingDistribution and interconnection: funding in this category supports expenses incurred by npr's distribution/interconnection division, which operates and manages the public radio satellite system (prss), a combined satellite and internet distribution network for public radio broadcast programming content. Delivering content produced by npr, member stations, and independent radio producers, the prss serves as essential infrastructure for the entire public media ecosystem. Crucially, it remains accessible to all public radio stations, regardless of their size, income, or programming affiliation. Operations and ongoing technological improvements are supported by a combination of client service fees and federal funding provided through the corporation for public broadcasting, until its orderly wind-down of operations in january 2026.
$12,685,791 spent$12,111,347 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $218,060,791.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $392M to $424M (+8%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
40% of NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Katherine R Maher
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 82 funders to 161 funders, grant income rose $9.7M → $31M.
51 of 480 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $150M from 40 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Npr Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC raised.
From the IRS filings of NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 480 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 53%; half comes from just 3 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
66% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 68% · 2019 16% · 2020 12% · 2021 30% · 2022 22% · 2023 47% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
59% of NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $46M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC has grown faster than half of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record — $868k federal, $699k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$763k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$105k
- NJ$683k
- OK$16k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 34 states
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- Npr Foundation · exempt
- American Coalition for Public Radio · exempt
- Npr International Operations Inc · exempt
- National Public Media LLC · partnership
- Npr Asset Holding Company Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC?
- NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 480 organizations whose IRS filings report $247,691,929 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($113,781,800). 246 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC have?
- IRS filings report 480 organizations giving $247,691,929 in grants to NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC, 246 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $113,781,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 480 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing